POLIOMYELITIS PREVENTION

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27733, 10 August 1955, Page 12

POLIOMYELITIS PREVENTION

PERSONAL HYGIENE MAJOR FACTOR OTAGO NEUROLOGIST’S OPINION vacc i nati °n against poliomyelitis is coming up. the utmost personal cleanliness is still an essential said Professor John Laughey, associate professor of neuruol°c»y at the Otago Medical School, when addressed the annual meeting of w e 5 an v rb , ury -Westland branch of the New Zealand Crippled Children Society in Christchurch last evening. Amo? 6 h ? d been reports from America only yesterday that the use ot tne Salk vaccine would soon be resu'Jlc‘iv he £ aid ’ but ‘rial's in Britain and New Zealand still awaited approval of the British Medical Research Council.

Another vaccine, in which the virus was alive but v/eakened. was also being tested, Professor Caughey said. Many leading American authorities believed that this would •eventually be preferred to the Salk formula. The principle of a live vaccine was the same as that used against smallpox and yellow fever.

®ut in New Zealand in the meantime this disease can best be prevented by strict attention to common hygiene ” Professor Caughey said. Children must wash their hands after using the toilet and before meals. There had been many changes of attitude to poliomyelitis, he said. It was a virus disease, caused by the smallest germs known, and research had previously been restricted because only monkeys could be infected. But m the last five years it had been grown on tissue cultures, and work had increased a hundredfold. Patterns varied from time time and from place to place, said Professor Caughey. In the first and second decades of this century, the incidence of poliomyelitis had been highest among children. Then adults were affected more often. The incidence among adults was very high in two recent epidemics in Scandinavia and California. This trend had been seen in New Zealand in 1952. Earlier, the trouble had been usually confined to summer, but now it would drag on through the whole year.

Entry of Virus Originally, the vijjus had been thought to enter by the nose, but it was now known that oral infection was most common, so that the intestine walls, the blood, and the nervous system were affected, he said. Coughing was also once thought to be the cause of spread, but contaminted hands had now been established as the chief carrier.

Up to six months of age a child inherited natural protection. Professor Caughey said, and in backward countries with poor hygiene, children were likely to be infected in this period, but would build up immunity. “Poliomyelitis is a disease of civilisation,” he said, explaining that under hygienic conditions the infection of children was often deferred until they had lost protection.

The strict instruction of the Health Department about children washing their hands during the 1952 epidemic in New Zealand still held as an essential precaution. Professor Caughey said, i “That is probably the most important thing we as parents can ensure as a safeguard.” he added. In case of an epidemic, nose and throat operations should be postponed if possible, and also inoculations against diphtheria and whooping cough, said Professor Caughey. If a child was "off colour,” he should avoid strenuous exercise. A Christchurch boy in 1952 rowed on the Avon all one morning, and when stricken with poliomyelitis was affected in the arms and back. The early symptoms were head and back aches and sore throat. For every case of paralysis, there were about 300 cases of minor illness without lasting effects.

In 1947 in Auckland, with 300 cases there were 12 deaths. 26 cases of naralysis, and 224 pre-paralytic conditions, but after two years only 14 per cent, of the paralysed had residual effects. Poliomyelitis v-as thus not now such a : bad disease as. say. rheumatic fever. Professor Caughey said.

Twenty years ago, the practice was to put affected limbs at rest in plaster, but contraction often resulted, said Proferror Caughey. Perhaps the greatest change in thinking had been caused by the work of Miss Elizabeth Kenny, with her theories on hot packs and exercise. Although this system was still controversial, its use had become common. The vaccines offered new possibilities in combating a disease which concerned all mankind.